The oversharing of vacation photos

Is that the one where people were live broadcasting for a while? One of my wife's co-workers was using it quite a bit. She thought it was super-innovative, was going to help her connect with the parents of her students somehow, etc., etc. Ultimately, it was an advancement in search of any sort of real-world application.

 

I don't have a problem with people stopping to take a quick photo. I used to, but my fiancee likes to do it. So I don't have a problem with it anymore.

What still seems so stupid to me is when I see someone watching something like a concert, stand-up act or fireworks show through their phone while they are recording it. That is an instance where I think someone is more concerned about the likes the video will get on Facebook and not actually experiencing the event.

 

When my dad got sick, my entire family was together for the first time in years, including some of the kids who had never met each other. We laughed, cried, loved, busted balls, etc., and we also took a metric shit-ton of photos.

One came up in my Facebook memories this morning. It was my dad holding my sleeping infant daughter on his shoulder. He died when she was 6 months old, so she’ll never “know” him, but I’m glad we took so many pictures because at least I’ll have a great memory of that time to show her when she’s older.

Taking pictures didn’t take one thing away from the “experience.” Taking pictures enhanced it tremendously.

 

Pretty clear where you stand on this.

I'm glad that turning life into a photo shoot enhances the experience for you. It detracts from it for me. Different strokes.

 

Right. It's not the static piece of scenery where it gets me. It's events, where something is happening in front of you, but you're watching it through the screen on your phone. Have you gone to a school concert lately? All the kids see looking out at the audience are fucking phones. Why are you recording it? Nobody is watching that shit again.

Speaking of the aforementioned Periscope, I once watched a concert I couldn't make on there, because somebody was willing to hold up their phone for two hours, filming a concert for an audience of, like, six people online. I was like, Thanks, random weirdo who is Periscoping this event through arm cramps. I mean, I was grateful, but what a strange thing to do.

 

Wait a second, I'm tagging this for my Instagram feed.

 

Public places are insane now, with the amount of photos being snapped. We went into Chicago this weekend. The Shedd Aquarium is always a damn madhouse anyway, but now you are constantly ducking outstretched arms, or trying not to interfere with someone's photo. We also went to a huge park that included a suspension bridge. There were a group of teen-age girls trying over and over again to get their jumping in the air photo just so. It clogged up the entire flow of traffic across the bridge.

People have always taken photos, I agree. I don't think they were always this, I don't know, professional about it.

 

In the '90s, I remember it being a huge deal that the Black Crowes let people bring recording equipment into their shows. Now, it's news that Jack White and John Mellencamp don't let people record their shows.

 

Never heard of him.

 

It’s not “turning life into a photo shoot.”

It’s spending a few seconds on the hour taking pictures that you’ll be glad you have later.

Especially when your memory sucks, like mine does.

 

My son is playing high school baseball, and I've been shocked by how many people get up to film their kids batting or pitching. When my son pitched last week, people were asking my why I wasn't recording it. I just wanted to watch, man.

 

Then it feels like we're not really talking about the same thing here. I don't think there's necessarily an argument, or a real difference of viewpoint on anything but the margins.